Shell CEO wants oil industry to join climate fight

Royal Dutch Shell wants to push other oil companies to get on board with the fight against climate change.  

In early excerpts of a speech obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden criticizes his industry’s approach to the debate on climate policies.

{mosads}Van Beurden plans to tell oil executives during a conference Thursday night in London that they should endorse policies aimed at mitigating climate change, including a price on carbon and a “shift from coal to natural gas.”

He will also tell the industry to stop having “a low profile on the issue.”

“I understand the tactic,” he will say according to the speech. “But in the end it’s not a good tactic.”

Van Beurden will say oil companies can not remain in hiding and expect to maintain credibility. 

“You cannot talk credibly about lowering emissions globally if, for example, you are slow to acknowledge climate change; if you undermine calls for an effective carbon price; and if you always descend into the ‘jobs versus environment’ argument in the public debate,” van Beurden is expected to say.

It’s a line that could strike home with the industry and Republicans, who overwhelmingly remain skeptical of the science behind climate change.